Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

Mel Stuart(1971)

Review

Our Score

by Jeremy Aspinall

Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured Johnny Depp creepily channeling Michael Jackson as eccentric sweet manufacturer Willy Wonka. In this fabulous 1971 musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's evergreen story, it's Gene Wilder who parks his buffoonish comic persona to bring a pinch of the macabre to the wide-eyed candy-maker. Dahl wrote the script and though he had misgivings about the finished article, this vibrant, imaginative fantasy still reveals a layer of grimness beneath the confection. Peter Ostrum makes a convincing Charlie Bucket, desperate to find that last golden ticket to gain entrance to Wonka's phantasmagoric factory, and Julie Dawn Cole is perfectly awful (a compliment!) as spoilt and spiky Veruca Salt. Meanwhile Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe) and Roy Kinnear (Mr Salt) bring sugar and spice as their grown-up guardians. Add singalong ditties like The Candy Man, Pure Imagination and the Oompa-Loompa song, and you have wonderful, timeless entertainment.

Summary

An eccentric confectionery king announces that five children will be given a tour of his wondrous factory. The winners turn out to be a kind-hearted boy from a penniless family and four obnoxious brats, who face a terrible fate when they misbehave. Musical fantasy, based on Roald Dahl's classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum and Roy Kinnear.